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Hyperion
January 2008
On Sale: January 8, 2008
272 pages
ISBN: 1401303366
EAN: 9781401303365
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Memoir
"The Middle Place is about calling home. Instinctively. Even
when all the paperwork -- a marriage license, a notarized
deed, two birth certificates, and seven years of tax returns
-- clearly indicates you're an adult, but all the same,
there you are, clutching the phone and thanking God that
you're still somebody's daughter." For Kelly Corrigan,
family is everything. At thirty-six, she had a marriage that
worked, a couple of funny, active kids, and a weekly
newspaper column. But even as a thriving adult, Kelly still
saw herself as George Corrigan's daughter. A garrulous
Irish-American charmer from Baltimore, George was the center
of the ebullient, raucous Corrigan clan. He greeted every
day by opening his bedroom window and shouting, "Hello,
World!" Suffice it to say, Kelly's was a colorful childhood,
just the sort a girl could get attached to. Kelly lives deep
within what she calls the Middle Place -- "that sliver of
time when parenthood and childhood overlap" -- comfortably
wedged between her adult duties and her parents' care. But
she's abruptly shoved into a coming-of-age when she finds a
lump in her breast -- and gets the diagnosis no one wants to
hear. And so Kelly's journey to full-blown adulthood begins. When George, too, learns he has late-stage cancer, it is
Kelly's turn to take care of the man who had always taken
care of her -- and show us a woman as she finally takes the
leap and grows up. Kelly Corrigan is a natural-born
storyteller, a gift you quickly recognize as her father's
legacy, and her stories are rich with everyday details. She
captures the beat of an ordinary life and the tender,
sometimes fractious moments that bind families
together. Rueful and honest, Kelly is the prized friend who
will tell you her darkest, lowest, screwiest thoughts, and
then later, dance on the coffee table at your party. Funny,
yet heart-wrenching, The Middle Place is about being a
parent and a child at the same time. It is about the special
double-vision you get when you are standing with one foot in
each place. It is about the family you make and the family
you came from -- and locating, navigating, and finally
celebrating the place where they meet. It is about reaching
for life with both hands -- and finding it.
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